Kaʻū News Briefs, Wednesday, August 7, 2019

     Last year – due to legislation introduced by east Kaʻū's Sen. Russell Ruderman and now-Lt. Gov. Josh Green, a physician who was west Kaʻū's senator at the time, and west Kaʻū's state Rep., physician Richard Creagan – Hawaiʻi became the first state to pass a law banning Chlorpyrifos. At the national level, Kaʻū's legislators Sen. Brian Schatz and Rep. Tulsi Gabbard have also thrown their support behind banning the pesticide.
     Per FactCheck.org, Chlorpyrifos, first registered as an insecticide in 1965, is the most used conventional insecticide in the U.S. Roughly 6 million pounds was used on 10 million acres between 2009 and 2013. Humans can be exposed to Chlorpyrifos by ingesting food, inhaling it, and through the skin. While it has rarely been found in drinking water and outdoor air, it can be carried long distances in the air. It is toxic to birds, and extremely toxic to fish and non-target insects, such as bees.
     Chlorpyrifos toxicity leads to over-stimulation of the nervous system, similarly to Sarin gas. Symptoms include headache, nausea, dizziness, and confusion. High doses can cause vomiting, abdominal pain, and diarrhea. Extremely high doses can lead to death.
     Late filmmaker and former Pāhala resident Danny Miller took up the issue in the award winning film Poisoning Paradise, narrated by Kaʻū natives Demetrius Oliveira and Alika Atay and co-produced by Teresa Tico.

Made with the assistance of the writing, directing, and filming talents of producer Teresa Tico and late filmmaker and former Pāhala resident Danny Miller, Poisoning Paradise takes up the issue of pesticides in the Hawaiʻi environment.  One of its narrators is Pāhala resident Demetrius Oliveira. The film has won awards at film festivals internationally.  See poisoningparadise.com.

     From the letter: "The EPA has repeatedly found that Chlorpyrifos harms children's brains at exposures far lower than what the EPA allows." The Senators assert the EPA's refusal to ban the pesticide is "because the agency is currently unable to pinpoint the precise exposures that cause this harm." They also assert that the EPA is not taking public input into account to protect public health.
     The Senators state that Chlorpyrifos "threatens agricultural workers" who are exposed from mixing, handling, and applying the pesticide, and being in recently sprayed fields. "Chlorpyrifos is one of the pesticides most often linked to acute pesticide poisonings… This is significant given widespread under-reporting of pesticide poisonings due to such factors as inadequate reporting systems, fear of retaliation from employers, and reluctance to seek medical treatment."
     The EPA's decision, say the Senators, to "reject the petition to ban Chlorpyrifos… simply makes no sense from a public health or legal perspective." They assert the EPA is resisting "taking action that would protect children's brains. If you fail to reverse this decision, more children, farmworkers, and American families will be exposed to this pesticide and they will suffer as a result," the Senators concluded.
     The full text of the letter is available here.

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PLAN B, TO BUILD THE THIRTY METER TELESCOPE IN THE CANARY ISLANDS, instead of Maunakea, receives support from scientists in Spain and some opposition from environmental groups there. When TMT submitted its back-up building permit request for siting TMT on Palama Island in the Canaries, Astrophysics Institute Director Rafael Rebolo told the Associated Press that Spanish officials solidly back the TMT if the project "needs us." TMT executive director Ed Stone said the preferred site remains Maunakea, with plans for the alternative site going through negotiations since 2016 with a building permit requested more recently.
     Magec said that in the Canary Islands, "the feeling is growing that our mountain has already exceeded the capacity to house more telescopes and that we have already paid a high price for astronomical science. We are strongly opposing a project that will have a very negative impact on a unique natural area of high value that is part of the European Natura 2000 network, one of the world's largest networks of protected natural areas."

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See public Kaʻū events, meetings, entertainment.  See Kaʻū exercise, meditation, daily, and weekly events.  Print edition of The Kaʻū Calendar is free to 5,500 mailboxes  throughout Kaʻū, from Miloliʻi through Volcano, and free on  stands throughout the district. Read online at kaucalendar.com and facebook.com/kaucalendar.

2019 Kaʻū High School Athletics Schedule through August
See khpes.org/athletics-home for details and updates; Bowling TBA.

Football, Division II:
Sat., Aug. 24, 1 p.m., Kaʻū hosts Kamehameha

Girls Volleyball, Kaʻū District Gym:
Tue., Aug. 20, 6 p.m., Kaʻū hosts Hilo
Fri., Aug. 23, 6 p.m., Kaʻū hosts St. Joseph
Wed., Aug. 28, 6 p.m., Kaʻū hosts Kohala

Sat., Aug. 31, 10 a.m., @Christian Liberty

To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. See our online calendars and our latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.